Professional Fee Coder (Pro-Fee, Physician Coder) Recruiters
Healthcare Headhunters recruits healthcare professionals for employers. No upfront fee. You pay only if you hire.
This is what we do all day: recruit healthcare professionals.
Hiring a professional fee coder means finding someone who can translate physician documentation into defensible charges without confusing professional services with facility billing.
No postings. No stacks of resumes. No chasing. You interview a short list.
No upfront fee. You pay only if you hire.
Need someone now? Call 305-306-4829.
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What happens next
- We review your role, responsibilities and location.
- Ivan or a senior team member will reach out soon.
- You meet a focused shortlist when qualified candidates fit the agreed search.
- Fees.
- No upfront fee. Pay only if you hire, under the signed agreement.
- Exclusivity.
- Set out in the signed client agreement.
- Confidentiality.
- We agree the brief before outreach. This is not a promise of absolute anonymity.
- No hire.
- No hire means no fee on standard searches.
What does an open seat cost you every week?
An open role costs you more than the recruiting fee. Someone covers the work, waits for care, or stops a service. We ask what is falling behind and who is carrying it. Use your own figures to compare the cost of waiting with the cost of hiring.
The seat is costing you every week.
Overtime, diverted patients, a stretched team and a schedule held together by favors.
The posting brought the wrong people.
Applicants arrive, but the person who has done this exact work is employed and not looking.
You are the one chasing.
Screening calls, no-shows and follow-ups land on the desk of someone with a facility to run.
What does this hire really come down to?
We recruit professional fee coders for physician practices, medical groups, and health systems. Before searching, we ask which specialties, settings, and charge types you need covered. An office-based evaluation and management queue differs from surgical coding or hospital-based physician services.
Your opening should describe those differences before candidates assess the work.
A useful interview follows a charge from documentation review through release or a documented hold. Ask how the coder selects diagnoses, checks procedure codes, reviews modifiers, and handles missing support. Strong answers distinguish what the record supports from what a scheduling note or charge ticket suggests. They explain when to ask for clarification.
Someone who codes office visits may need preparation before handling operative reports across unfamiliar specialties. Ask which portions of the queue they owned and which went to another coder. We screen credentials, work history, and fit; you conduct the coding assessment and your own credential review.
We arrange locum tenens, travel and contract coverage on request. Credentialing, licensing and malpractice coverage are confirmed per engagement before anyone starts.
What do we check before you see anyone?
Ask, “How would you approach an office visit with several diagnoses and unclear assessment language?” A useful answer connects code selection to documented conditions and identifies the specific ambiguity needing clarification. Ask, “What do you check before applying a modifier?”
- Listen for documentation support, the relationship between services, and applicable payer edits. A modifier should not be described as a shortcut around every denial.
- Ask, “How do you code a physician service performed in a hospital?” Look for recognition of the professional claim, place of service, and the documentation supporting that physician’s work.
- Ask, “What would you do when an operative report and charge ticket disagree?” Strong answers return to the report, explain the discrepancy, and describe the employer’s correction or query process.
- Ask, “How have you handled a coding-related denial?” Useful evidence includes the denial reason, record review, any corrected code or supporting explanation, and how the finding reached the billing team.
- Ask, “Which credential do you hold, and how is it maintained?” Verify any claimed CPC, CCS-P, or other relevant certification with its issuer. Treat preferred certification separately from demonstrated specialty competence.
Where do we find them, and why would they move?
We look at physician practices, multispecialty groups, hospital professional billing departments, and coding service organizations. These backgrounds offer different experience. A practice coder may work directly with physicians on documentation questions. A centralized team member may have deeper exposure to edits, audit feedback, and separate specialty queues.
Candidates may consider moving for a clearer specialty assignment, different work hours, stronger training, or a defined remote arrangement. We ask which specialty queues they want to code and what support they need for unfamiliar physician services. If your role combines coding with charge entry or denial follow-up, we explain that mix early.
Which mistakes stall the search?
A common mistake is advertising only “medical coding” leaves candidates guessing about professional versus facility services. State the specialties, encounter settings, and whether the job includes procedure coding, evaluation and management coding, or both. Professional fee experience should match the services your physicians provide.
Treating a certificate as proof of every specialty skill skips the most useful test. Use a representative, de-identified case and ask the candidate to explain code choices and unresolved documentation questions.
Setting a production target without defining the queue can distort the hire. Explain whether coders receive complete records, resolve edits, contact providers, or work accounts awaiting clarification.
How would we run the search for this opening?
We establish specialties, encounter types, systems, work location, and coding versus billing duties. We compare credentials and work history with your service mix. You review representative coding work and discuss questionable cases with finalists. You identify the expected handoffs, reporting relationship, and audit process.
Define the actual queue
This gives candidates a concrete picture of the daily assignment.
Screen relevant experience
Screening questions address documentation gaps, modifiers, physician communication, and claim edits. We distinguish direct coding responsibility from reviewing reports or entering codes selected by someone else.
Assess and decide
We coordinate interviews and clarify role expectations. No upfront fee. You pay only if you hire. We offer a candidate replacement guarantee on standard search agreements. The applicable period and exact terms are set out in the signed client recruiting agreement.
National median annual wage. SOC 29-2072, Medical Records Specialists.
BLS reports Medical Records Specialists as one occupation. It does not publish a separate estimate for Professional Fee Coder (Pro-Fee, Physician Coder), its setting or its engagement terms.
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, OEWS, 2025-05, released 2026-05-15. View source. See the full guide.
Open roles
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Should we ask for CPC or CCS-P certification?
Either may be relevant to physician coding, depending on your service mix. Specify your preference, verify the credential, and assess coding judgment separately rather than treating certification as a universal legal mandate. Otherwise, you may interview someone seeking coding work while offering a broader revenue-cycle position.
Can a facility coder move into professional fee coding?
Possibly, but shared terminology does not prove matching experience. Ask for examples involving physician services, professional claim conventions, and modifiers, then assess the specialties assigned to your opening.
Should our coder also answer physician documentation questions?
Define whether that communication belongs to the coder or another team. If it belongs here, test whether the candidate can ask a neutral, specific question without suggesting unsupported documentation.
How should we assess remote coding readiness?
Ask how the candidate tracks held accounts, receives audit feedback, and escalates unresolved questions. Explain your access controls and communication routines so remote work expectations are clear before an offer.
Should denial follow-up sit within this role?
It can, if you define the coding issues the person will investigate. Separate that work from payment posting, collections, and appeals ownership so candidates understand where their responsibility ends.
What should you send us about this role?
Send us the role, where the person will work and what needs to change with this hire. We will ask about the work, not just the title. Share any license or schedule limits that could rule someone out before we begin the search.
Tell us which physician services need coding support and where the current handoffs slow charge release. We can help you define and recruit for that assignment.
No upfront fee. You pay only if you hire. We offer a candidate replacement guarantee on standard search agreements. The applicable period and exact terms are set out in the signed client recruiting agreement.
What happens next
- We review your role, responsibilities and location.
- Ivan or a senior team member will reach out soon.
- You meet a focused shortlist when qualified candidates fit the agreed search.
- Fees.
- No upfront fee. Pay only if you hire, under the signed agreement.
- Exclusivity.
- Set out in the signed client agreement.
- Confidentiality.
- We agree the brief before outreach. This is not a promise of absolute anonymity.
- No hire.
- No hire means no fee on standard searches.
Which other positions in this family should you consider?
Outpatient & ED Coder · Surgical & Specialty Coder (Interventional, Cardiology, Orthopedic)
What do you get at each step of the search?
Our process for every search: calibrate the seat with you, map the market, research the real people, reach out to each one personally, qualify them in live conversation, then hand you a short list with a written brief on each person and support through the offer.
Search Calibration
You get an agreed brief: the work, reporting line, credentials, schedule, and offer you can make.
Market Mapping
You get a search aimed at relevant backgrounds, including people working now who have not applied.
Professional Contact Intelligence
We check appropriate ways to reach the people identified for your search. You do not have to chase them yourself.
Persistent Personalized Outreach
We explain your actual job and follow up with people who may consider a conversation.
Live Candidate Qualification
You see people we have spoken with about the work, interest, and practical fit, not an unread resume pile.
Candidate Intelligence and Process Support
You get a written brief and support through interviews and offer discussions. You make the hiring decision.
How long will it take to see a short list?
That depends on the job, schedule, available people, and what your employer can offer. We discuss those constraints before outreach and update you as candidates respond. We do not promise a fixed shortlist date. We check the job brief before arranging interviews. Tell us which parts of the role you can change.
What if a candidate receives a counteroffer?
We ask why the person wants to move and discuss competing decisions before an offer. A counteroffer can still change their choice. Keep the duties and offer clear rather than assuming more money settles every concern. Tell us early if parts of your offer cannot change, so the candidate hears it from us first.
What are the replacement terms?
We offer a candidate replacement guarantee on standard search agreements. The applicable period and exact terms are set out in the signed client recruiting agreement. Ask us to walk through those terms before you sign, so you know how a replacement would work for your opening and who would start it.
What do we not do in a standard permanent search?
We do not bill standard contingency search by the hour or simply repost your job. Temporary coverage is a separate arrangement. Any retainer or different engagement must be agreed, not assumed. Tell us early if you need coverage while the permanent search runs.